Circulating economic ideas: adaptation, appropriation, translation

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Contents

Contributors Foretuord Acknowledgnxents vl11

xii

XVii

Editors' introduction

ALEXANDRE MENDES CUNHA AND CARLOS EDUARDO SUPRINYAK

1

PART I

International dissemination

of

economic ideas 5

1

Political economy and

Latin

American independence

from

the nineteenth

to

the twentieth century

ALEXANDRE MENDES CUNHA AND CARLOS EDUARDO SUPRINYAK

2

Circulating economic ideas: adaptation, appropriation, translation

JOSÉ LUÍS CARDOSO

7

32

PART

II

Protectionism and free trade in the nineteenth century 4T

3

Latin

America and the nineteenth-century

British

free

trade project

ANTHONY HOWE

4

Silva Lisboa on free trade and slave labor: the fate

of

liberalism

in

a colonial countrY

MAURÍCIO C, COUTINHO 43 58

.â

MIX Papo¡frcm reEponrlbìg sour@a FSC! C013604 FSC

vi

Contents Contents vii

5

The (far') backstot'y

of

the

US-Colombia

Free Trade Agreement

STEPHEN MEARDON

6

The Treaties

of

1810 and the crisis

of

the

Luso-Brazilian

Empire

MILENA FERNANDES DE OLIVEIRA AND NELSON MENDES CANTARINO

81

PART V

Nationalism and economic development in

Latin

America

13

Varieties

of

economic nationalism:

Latin

America and Europe

MICHELE ALACEVICH

14

A

note on some historical connections between nationalism and economic development in Latin America

MAURO BOIANOVSKY

15

CEPAL,

economic nationalism, and development

JOSEPH L. LOVE 251 253 269 276 292 106 PART

III

Ideas from abroad

r23

7

Julio Menadier: a

Listian

economist

in

the economic

policy

debate

in

Chile (1860-1880)

CLAUDIO ROBLES ORTIZ

I

Jean-Baptiste Say's social economics and the construction

of

the nineteenth-century liberal republic

in

Colombia

JIMENA HIJRTADO

9

From

"social economy"

to "national political

economy": German economic ideas

in

Brazil

LUIZ FELIPE BRUZZI CURI

r25

Index

t4l

163

PARTIV

Doing

political

economy in

Latin

America 185

10 An

outline

of

the economic

thinking

of

Joaquim José

Rodrigues Torres and the economic

policy

of

the

Br azilian Empire ( I 848-5 8) THIAGO FONTELAS ROSADO GAMBI

187

11

From free banking to paper money: ideas behind the

building

of

a

National

Bank in

Colombia

at the end

of

the nineteenth century

RuonÉs ÁLvanE,z

205

227

l2

The economic redefinition

of

Peru: the

turn to

liberalism through the 1845-54 debate

I

I

Contributors

Michele Alacevich is Director

of

Global Studies and Assistant Professor

of

History at Loyola University, USA. He holds a PhD in Business History

from

the University

of

Milano, Italy.

He

specializes

in

the history

of

twentieth-century development institutions and ideas, and international

history. Current interests include the history

of

development, the policies

of

postwar reconstruction in Eastern and Southern Europe, and the

his-tory

of

social sciences in the twentieth century, with a focus on the

link-ages between the history

of

ideas, economic and political history, and the

history

of

economic thought. He has authored two books: The Political

Economy

of

the World Bank: The Early Years (Stanford University Press, 2009), and Economia politica. Un'introduzione storica, with Daniela Parisi

(Il

Mulino, 2009). His publications include articles in Journal

of

Global

History, History of Politícal Economy, Review oJ'Political Economy, Rivista di Storia Economica, and Journal o/'the History oJ' Economic Tltougltt.

Andrés Llvarez is Associate Professor

of

Economics

at

the University

of

los Andes

in

Bogotá, Colombia. His fields

of

interest are the history

of

economic thought, with emphasis on monetary theory, and financial and monetary history.

Mauro Boianovsky is Full Professor of Economics at Universidade de Brasilia

(UnB).

He

holds

a

PhD

in

Economics

from

Cambridge University.

He

has published

on

the

history

of

economic

thought

in

interna-tional journals and collected volumes.

His book

TransJbrming Modern Macroeconomic s

:

Exploring D is e quilibrium M icrofoundations, I 9 56-200 3,

jointly

with

Roger Backhouse (Cambridge University Press, 2014), has received the ESHET 2014 best book award. He has been elected president

of

the History

of

Economics Society for the period 201Ç2017.

Nelson Mendes Cantarino obtained

his PhD

in

Social History

from

the University of São Paulo, Brazil, and held a post-doctoral fellowship at the

Institute

of

Economics, State University

of

Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil. He has mainly worked on the following themes: Enlightened reformism; modern colonial empires, their dynamics and structures; modern history,

Contributors ix

history

of

economic thought, and economic history; economic develop-ment and the theory of economic development.

José Luís Cardoso

is

Research Professor and Director.

of

the Institute

of

social sciences

of

the university

of

Lisbon. He is author and editor

of

several books on the Portuguese history of economic thought frorn a com-parative perspective, with special emphasis on the study

of

the processes

of diffusion and assimilation of economic ideas. He has published articles

in

the main international journals on the history

of

economic thought.

His research interests also include economic history and methodology

of

economics. He is the general editor

of

the series classics

of

Portuguese Economic Thought (thirty volumes), co-founder

of

the European Journal

of

the History

of

Economic Thought, and co-editor

of

the e'iournal

of

Portuguese HistorY.

Mauricio C. Coutinho is Full Professor

of

Economics at the State University

of Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil. His research focuses on the history of eco-nomic thought, especially the following themes: eighteenth-century

mon-etary economics (including Cantillon, Hume, Galiani, Turgot, Steuart, Smith, Harris), and Portuguese-Brazilian late colonial economic thought. Currently, he is studying the arguments elaborated by economists concern-ing slavery.

Alexandre Mendes Cunha

is

Associate Professor

in

the

Department

of

Economics and currently Director

of

the Center for European Studies at the Federal university

of

Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil. He obtained his

PhD

in

History from the Fluminense Federal University (UFF), Brazil,

spending a period as a visitirig researcher at the Technical University

of

Lisbon. His research interests include the history

of

economic thought, intellectual history, and ecottomic and political history, He has published two edited books and several peer-reviewed articles (including in journals such as History of Political Economy and The Review of Radical Political

Economics) and book chapters.

Luiz Felipe Bruzzi Curi is a doctoral student

of

Economic History at the

university

of

são Paulo, Brazil, currently spending a period as a

visit-ing research student at the Universität Hohenheim, Germany. His research interests include the history

of

economic thought, economic

histor¡

and the history

of

Republican Brazil.

Thiago Fontelas Rosado Gambi has a PhD

in

Economic History from the University

of

São Paulo, Brazil, and is Associate Professor at the lnstitute of Applied Social Sciences, Federal University of Alfenas (Unifal), Brazil. His main fields

of

research are banking history and Brazilian economic

thought in the nineteenth century.

Anthony Howe is Professor

of

Modern History

at

the University

of

East

x

Contributors

lB46-1946 (Oxford, 1998), and a four-volume edition

of

The Letters

of

Richard Cobden

(150445)(Oxford,

200'l-2015). He is currently engaged on a global history of free trade from Adam Smith to the WTO.

Jimena Hurtado

is

Associate Professor

at

the

Economics Department,

University

of

los Andes, Colombia. Her research focuses on economic

philosophy and the history

of

economic thought, especially during the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. Recently, she has worked on politi-cal philosophy, including recognition

in

the social interactions econom-ics analyzes, and the origins

of

economic thought in nineteenth-century Colombia.

Joseph

L.

Love

is

Professor Emeritus

at

University

of

lllinois,

Urbana-Champaign, USA, He is interested in the history of economic ideas, policy, and performance

in

Brazil and

in

Latin America as a whole. Earlier, he studied regionalism in Brazil. He is the author

of

Rio Grande do Sul and Brazilian Regionalism, São Paulo in the Brazilian Federation, Crafting the Third World: Theorizing (Jnderdevelopment in Romania and Brazil, and The Revolt oJ' the Whip (all with Stanford University Press).

In

addition, he has authored some eighty scholarly articles and essays, and has co-edited four books.

Stephen Meardon is Associate Professor

of

Economics at Bowdoin College,

USA. He received his PhD

in

Economics from Duke University, USA.

His most recent research examines how economic doctrines

of

free trade and protection treat the problem

of

"reciprocity." He aims to show how new economic ideas, and new alignments

of

free-trade and protectionist doctrines with kindred causes (e,g., peace, international copyright,

opposi-tion

to

slavery, territorial expansion), have been forged in circumstances where the correct application

of

the doctrines is ambiguous or seemingly inexpedient,

Milena Fernandes de Oliveira

is

Associate Professor

at

the

Institute

of

Economics, State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil. She obtained her PhD in Economic History from the same institution, with a doctoral internship at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris. She is currently working on the historiography of economic history and its inter-faces with some long-standing issues, such as consumption and the nation, as well as intellectual history and the history of economic ideas,

Claudio Robles

Ortiz

received his PhD

in

History from the University

of

California, Davis, He studies the economic, social, and political history

of

Chilean rural societies from the 1850s to the present, and his research exarnines technological innovation and economic growth in agriculture, the

transition

of

the hacienda system towards agrarian capitalism, and agrar-ian interests in economic policy debates. In the area of political history, he studies the agrarian reform of the 1960s and 1970s and its impact on local

Contributors xi

and national politics. His publications include the books Hacendados.pro' gresistøs y modernización agraria en Chile Central, I I 50-I 880 (Universidad ãe los Lagos,2007), and Jacques Chonchol: Un cristiano revolucionario en

la política chilena det siglo

XX.

Con rrtaciones con'Claudio Robles Ortiz (Universidad Finis Terrae,2016), and a number

of

articles in Spanish and English.

Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak

is

Associate Professor

of

Economics, Federal

university

of

Minas Gerais

(UFMG),

Brazil. He obtained his PhD in Economics from

uFMG,

and spent one year as a visiting research stu-dent at Goldsmiths College, University

of

London. His research interests include the history of economic thought, economic history, and economic methodology. He has published a book on the market for beasts

of

bur-den in nineteenth-century Brazil (Tropas em Marcha, Annablume, 2008), and several peer-reviewed articles on the history

of

economic thought and economic history. He is currently chief-editor

of

Nova Economia, and co-editor

of

Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology. Alvaro Grompone Velásquez is a junior researcher at the Instituto de Estudios

Peruanos. He holds

a

Master's Degree

in

History

from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru (PUCP), after concluding his studies in eco' nomics at the same university. He is interested in Peruvian economic ideol-ogies since the mid-nineteenth century, now focusing on the last fifty years'

2

Circulating

economic

ideas

Adaptation, appropriation,

translation

José

Luís

Cardoso

Introduction

The writing of thischapter was originally motivated by the general theme of the 4th ESHET Latin American Conference held in Belo Horizonte in November 2014, under the heading

of

Originality, Adaptation and Critique: the Place oJ'

Latin America in the History of Economic Thought. The conference featured a roundtable on the topic

of

the "International Dissemination

of

Economic Ideas." These notes correspond to the attempt that was made to promote the discussion of a few ontological and methodological issues related to the study

of the spread and diffusion of economic ideas across countries and continents.

This research subject is

of

utmost relevance

for

countries and regions

that are usually seen as net importers

of

original ideas created abroad.

Notwithstanding

the

capacity

to

build

up

creative

thinking

in

Latin American countries, especially as regards

original

contributions

to

the theories and policies

of

economic development, there is plenty of evidence

of

the richness

of

the procedures involved

in

the critical adaptation and

appropriation

of

economic knowledge. The scholarly debates on the dif-fusion in many Latin American countries

of

Enlightenment ideas on

eco-nomic reform, Adam Smith's political economy, List's system

of

national political economy, or Keynesian economic policies

_-

to name just the obvi-ous and well-studied cases

_-

offer multiple reasons

for

claiming the rel-evance

of

studies

of

this kind in the dissemination

of

economic thought.r

The development of economic ideas and theoretical constructs in particular

regional contexts is socially and politically determined, thus inviting historians

to explain why, when, and how the spread and diffusion processes occurred. The aim

of

this contribution is to highlight a few points that help to under-stand this relevant issue in the historiography

of

economic thought. After a

brief summary of canonical interpretationso I shall explore less cultivated ter-ritories of research, crossing borders within the universe of the social sciences.

Historiographical (and conventional) wisdom

The historiography

of

economic thought has accumulated enough evidence

on the relevance

of

the theme

of

the international mobility and diffusion

Circulating economic

ideas

33

of

economic ideas. The topic has been revisited many times and,

to

avoid redundancy,

the

reader should be invited

to

follow

the main references suggested by a few bibliographic surveys.2

The theme suggests, first, a concern with the formatibn and production

of

economic ideas and with the conditions and obstacles that can accelerate or hinder the processes governing their transmission and diffusion. Second,

if

one adopts the position

of

the receiver country or institution,

it

is necessary

to take into account the constraints dictated by different levels

of

economic development and by the greater or lesser degree

of

cultural and political

cos-mopolitanism, which determine both the opportunity for, and the depth of, the diffusion processes.

Another relevant issue explaining different levels

of

circulation

is

the capacity to deal with the technical content

of

economic theories that seem

appropriate to

justify

the implementation

of

certain economic and social policies. The degree of development of the economics profession is indeed an

important factor for explaining how economic ideas may develop and mature

in a particular environment. The processes

of

communication and diffusion

between professional economists, and between these and the public at Iatge, as well as policymakers, are fundamental conditions that help to understand the spread

of

ideas and their impact in society. Howeve¡ sometimes the flow to the public sphere is not particularly successful, as Robert Solow accurately points out: ooThe transmission of complicated ideas is imperfect. By the time an economic idea reaches its ultimate destination

it

has been changed,

dis-torted in one way or another. This is surely the case when an idea diffuses outside the profession" (Solow 1989,75).

Studying the processes of international transmission also allows for the for-mation

of

a critical view of the attempts to create rigid schemes

_-

quite com-mon within the conventional historiography

of

economic thought

_-

tending to divide authors into distinct periods or to classify them according to schools or streams of thought. In fact, such attempts have always warned against the

difficulty

of

establishing single definitive categories or typologies.

If

we look

at the problem through the looking-glass

of

international transmission,

it

is quite common fior authors who are rarely joined together in their country or countries

of

origin to be

jointly

and simultaneously imported or assimilated

into a different country.

Finally, the study

of

the international transmission

of

ideas and theories offers an excellent pretext for lurthering the analysis

of

the national histories and traditions

of

economic thought. The introduction

of

a national dimen-sion does not seek to deny the universal character

of

economics, but rather

to

demonstrate the relevance

of

different adaptive processes

in

the spread

of

economic theories and ideas. The pertinence

of

a particular model for

explaining reality does not depend only on the inner consistency of the theo-retical and doctrinal discourse, but also, and indeed very particularly, upon the successful adaptation to this same reality of the political presuppositions and consequences that are inherent therein.

---34

J.

L.

Cardoso

It

is precisely this last issue, traditionally associated with methodological discussions on the international diffusion

of

economic ideas, that requires special attention, given its pertinence for explaining the specificity of national approaches, namely the "place

of

Latin America in the history

of

economic

thought," this being the question that the title

of

the conference sought to

address,

Innovative approaches: place and travel

The following remarks are intended to provide some useful paths of research to

be followed in the process of dealing with issues relating to the dissemination

of

economic knowledge. These are topics

that

have received substantial

attention from scholarly research in the fields

of

the history

of

science, the history of ideas, and other related subjects. They are not specifically addressed

to the discussion

of

distinct problems in the economic sphere, though they have also certainly proved to be useful in this field.

History and social studies

of

science have given great prominence

to

the problem of place, which is equivalent to stressing the importance

of

the local context in the fabrication

of

knowledge. The idea

of

a universal science for

which national and regional features are totally irrelevant has been gradually replaced by a new approach in the cultural and intellectual history of science that takes vigorous account

of

the "local manifestations of universal science"

(Ophir and Shapin 1991,5).

According to this viewpoint, science is generated and assessed as a response

to the demands

of

specific geographic, historical, and institutional contexts. Science is locally shaped and its impact and domain

of

application also has a local dimension. This further means that knowledge creation is embedded

in

streams

of

practical life and occurs in spatial arrangements where social

interaction takes place. The value assigned to place is a further element that

emphasizes the role

of

social institutions

in

shaping cognition processes. In

short: the importance granted to place in studies related to the history of sci-ence engenders renewed attention to the circulation and diffusion

of

knowl-edge, as well as to the process of the local, in siar development

of

science (cf. Livingstone 2003).3

By giving new focus

to

the points

of

reception and

to

the historical and

institutional circumstances explaining the motives for both the adoption and the adaptation of economic ideas and practices,

I

wish to emphasize the rel-evance

of

the institutional milieu, in order to explain the conditions under which new forms

of

economic knowledge have emerged and developed, well suited to particular places and contexts of appropriation. It is therefore worth

addressing the historical conditions that make the reading of certain authors or certain economic arguments useful and relevant in a given context.

We may take for granted that science is always marked by the local and

spa-tial circumstances involved in its making. However, there are similar patterns

of production in other places that make

it

possible fior scientific discourse to

Circulating economic

ideas

35 travel from place to place. One

of

the main conditions for efficient travel is the degree of trust gained by unmodified scientific knowledge when it reaches

similar contexts where

it

may be applied. As Shapin puts

it:

"The wide

dis-tribution

of

scientific knowledge flows from the success

of

certain cultures in

creating and spreading standardized contexts for making and applying that

knowledge" (Shapin 1998,1). The travel

of

scientific knowledge has deserved close attention from scholars interested in studying the mastering

of

natural and economic resources in colonial empires, as a means both for improving

agriculture and manufactures and for deepening the dependent relationship between peripheral colonial territories and the dominating metropolises.a

Nevertheless, this is not only an issue of efficiency, control, and power, but

also an issue

of

trust and the appropriation

of

scientific knowledge in the

public domain. An example that clearly illustrates this claim is given by the translation of scientific texts, which should be viewed as an instrument of the travel

of

knowledge that gains further meaning when

it

serves communities

of different places.

The same considerations apply to the travel

of

ideas from place to place

and

to

the study

of

the conditions that cause some ideas

to

flourish more vigorously

in

some places than in others. And they also explain why some ideas simply do not fit in with the intellectual context to which they have been

imported, As far as economic scieuce and thought are concerned, this issue has motivated previous studies, and the relevance

of

the subject, whenever methodological debates on national styles and traditions are under scrutiny, is broadly acknowledged.s

Adaptationo appropriationo and translation

The scholarly field

of

cultural studies has developed

a

concern

with

the uses

of

literary or scientific texts as part

of

an adaptation process that can be described as follows:

'An

acknowledged transposition

of

a recognizable

other work or works; a creative and an interpretative act

of

appropriation/

salvaging; and an extended intertextual engagement with the adapted work"

(Hutcheon 2006, B).

Although the use of this type

of

approach is particularly important within the realm

of

literary and cultural studies,

it

is worth noting that an

adapta-tion is not only a concrete product or outcome (e.g., the adaptation of a novel

into a film,

or

a drama into a musical performance, or poetry into prose),

but also a process

of

creation and reception that is applicable to other forms

of

communication.

It

is therefore interesting to apply this type

of

approach

to the adaptation

of

ideas in different contexts of production and reception,

in the sense |hal, "adaptation [is] an attempt to make texts relevant or easily comprehensible to new audiences and readerships via the processes of

proxi-mation and updating" (Sanders 2006,19).

Running counter

to

the notion

of

homogeneity and cultural dominance, adaptations introduce elements

of

creative thinking, diversity, and variation

36

J.L. Csrdoso

that offer new insights for the study of the processes

of

transmission and

dif-fusion, including those pertaining to the circulation of economic ideas, There is no longer a concern with remaining faithful to the original source, or

study-ing influences within a static framework, but instead with the appropriation

of words and arguments that gain a new meaning.

This notion of the appropriation of knowledge (or

of

scientific ideas, prac-tices, and techniques) overcomes the less suitable notions of transmission,

dif-fusion, and adaptation, because it underlines the active role, the strategy, and the planning of those directly engaged in the process _{of importing} and assimi-lating ideas.

It

also obliges us to analyze the institutional conditions that ena-ble us to legitimize the appropriated message or object, as well as to overcome the constraints and resistances that

it

may have experienced before becoming accepted. Briefly: ooThus our context is that of the active receiver, which entails a shift from the point of view of what has been transmitted to the view of how what was received has been appropriated" (Gavroglu et al, 2008, 154).

One of the instruments placed at the service of the strategies of

appropria-tion is the translation into the national language of texts and books produced

in a different national and linguistic setting. Translation thus reveals a heu-ristic capacity applied to the study

of

the processes of knowledge adaptation and appropriation.

The theme of circulation is closely associated with the history of book

pro-duction and reading and therefore with the history of translation. This offers us the opportunity

of

thinking in terms

of

books as acts

of

communication

with receivers (the audience), producers (authors and translators), modes and conventions

of

transmission (through rhetorical strategies), and feedback effects, thus allowing for the use of cybernetic models and concepts that were one

of

the basic tools

of

the conventional, canonical view on the spread and dissemination of ideas.

Another possible approach to the role of translation is based on the notions associated with knowledge or science in context, i.e,, with the notion

of

oosci-ence as practical activity, located

in

the routines

of

everyday

life"

(Secord 2004, 657). According

to

this line

of

thought,

it

becomes apparent That a translation is an expression of knowledge in transit, an act of communicating science that allows for a better understanding

of

the generic regularities, as

well as the local peculiarities, involved in the circulation of knowledge.

By lollowing any

of

these paths

_of

research we reach the same

conclu-sion: circulation through translation helps

to

explain the processes

of

the spread and transmission

of

knowledge.6

It

is also advisable

to

move forward

to

new directions and point out the importance of an interdisciplinary dialogue between historians of science and ideas and philologists, in order to gain a better understanding

of

the activity

of

translation as a means

of

tracing the transfer

of

scientific knowledge and the development of scientific vocabulary in each of the national and linguistic

contexts considered (cf. Tymoczko 2002). This cooperation may bring new insights to the understanding

of

cultural contexts and language frameworks

Circulating economíc

ideas

37

that are relevant for the analysis

of

the transmission and appropriation

of

scientific knowledge. In a nutshell:

Renditions

of

scientific texts into other languages cân serve the historian in more significant ways, however, than as an indicator of publishing

suc-cess. With respect to translation studies, historians of science could profit

by turning to philologists, who have long recognized that a translation is not merely a medium of transfeq but more importantly a mental meeting

point where barriers of language and culture are crossed.

(Rupke 2000,209)

Translations

of

political economy texts: the Enlightenment context

In

order

to

show the relevance

of

this topic

for

historians

of

economics, one may take as an example a specific period

in

the history

of

translation

of

economic texts, namely the period corresponding

to

the emergence and development

of

political

economy as

an

autonomous

field

of

scientific inquiry. Indeed, in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, there was an explosion of translations of economic literature which corresponded both to the euphoria of translation as a rewarding and useful endeavor, and to the

growing relevance

of

political economy as a subject that had reached and captured the public domain.

In

most European countries, by the mid'eighteenth century, translations

into Latin wefe no longer needed for international readership, and Latin lost its role in scholarly writing, as well as in fiction and poetry. The Enlightenment had offered the opportunity for cosmopolitan conversation without a com-mon or universal language, though French had gained the status

of

a hngua Jranca. However, being a lingua franca did not mean achieving exclusivity or

uniqueness, and the common acceptance of French as alanguage of universal communication implied a wider process

of

translation from and into French

of

texts seeking widespread diffusion,

Translation was sometimes a process of creating new words and a new tech-nical language. Thus, national cultures and national languages were somehow challenged and modified by means of translations:

These _[receiving] languages were, to various degrees, affected by the trans-lated texts and influenced by new literary standards and ideas' They also transformed the texts themselves, both through active intervention and through the subtle mechanisms of linguistic shifts. Translation, the tool

of

a new Enlightenment cosmopolitanism, eventually became the medium (and target) of new linguistic self-awareness and cultural nationalism.

(Oz-Salzberg er 2006, 39 6)

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, there was no legal control

38

J.L. Cardoso

translators could take liberties with style and argument, without respecting the original message of the text (cf. Forget 2010, 655). Substantial differences

could therefore be found whenever translators acknowledged the disclaimer

of

a oofree translation," even when they claimed to have attempted to remain

faithful to the author's central message.

Translators tended to serve their readers and show loyalty to them, address-ing their interests in terms of comprehension, without caring too much about the authors that were being translated or quoted.

In

a certain way, one can describe this biased approach as a market-oriented strategy of publishing.

TraduÍtore becomes traditore. The purpose of being faithful

notwithstand-ing, there are difficulties

of

expression in a different language that originate

involuntary misunderstandings.

But

sometimes, the translators themselves express their disagreement with the ideas spelt out and thus delete

full

pas-sages that sound inappropriate or insert _{footnotes explaining their opposition} to the author's ideas.

original texts are transformed in order either

to

afiract readers or to create an audience better prepared to be aware of the contents of the message trans-lated. However, by introducing notes and amendments to the texts, translators produce changes of meaning to the original, for the benefit of new audiences,

for whom the transformed message seems to fit much better.

Translation, however, does much more than substitute words of one lan-guage for those

of

another. Like populaûzation, translation allows us to

see how a scientific work is received by a particular audience and how

it

may be adapted for other audiences.

(Forget 2010,674) By the end

of

the eighteenth century, political economy was one of the main subjects contributing to the enlargement

of

the market for translations. The

main purpose was to reach a broader audience interested in topics relating

to

public administration, the role

of

government, and the functioning

of

markets and economic life in general. This new science

of

the market and

of

the modern institutions that served the dynamics

of

the emerging industrial

capitalism was also a science that was placed at the service

of

the legislator,

with

added responsibility

in

the design and implementation

of

the new functions granted to the state. It was therefore crucial to spread the good news concerning the interpretation and monitoring

of

economic life. Translations became an important vehicle for the diffusion and popularizarionof the new science

of

political economy and therefore a means for its appropriation in national contexts.

Translators

of

essays and tracts on political economy were also interested

in maintaining a conversation and critically discussing the claims and argu-ments put forward by the authors translated. Thus, the process

of

translation was also a means

of

increasing public debate and revealing the role

of

the translator as someone who was entitled to the attributes

of

authorship.

Circulating economic

ideas

39

Concluding remarks

The purpose

of

this chapter was to provide some motivation for an enlarged discussion

of

the relevance

of

the processes

of

diffusion, adaptation, and

appropriation of economic ideas. Special emphasis was given to the function

of

translations, since they operate as an ideal demonstration

of

the route

of

economic ideas circulating in different historical and linguistic contexts.

It is undisputable that not all types of economic reasoning prove to be ade-quate for solving problems in any historical context. Therefore, the use and appropriation

of

economic discourse is, most

of

the timg a rhetorical device

that serves as a means for claiming the appropriateness

ol

certain economic policies aimed at achieving a predesigned set of political aims. The economists' voices are not echoed in the public sphere because they are right, but because they serve particular goals to foster innovative projects of economic and

politi-cal reform.

The appropriation

of

ideas and the adaptation

of

analytical or political

arguments are also associated

with

a process

of

emulation, according to

which what has occurred in a country that has reached a certain degree

of

economic development may sefve as both a stimulus and a model to be

fol-lowed by countries seeking to catch up. In this sense, the circulation

of

ideas is a mimetic process that involves the tracking of basic steps previously expe-rienced in other countries.

Throughout the process

of

their being appropriated and emulated, eco-nomic ideas are also subject to innovative adaptation and/or distortion. The way in which authors are quoted, the transcription

of

partial excerpts taken

out

of

their textual context, the translation

of

widely influential books, are

all selective processes of circulation and diffusion that may imply substantial changes to the original meaning of economic texts, as well as to the

presenta-tion of economic arguments.

Notes

1 For a global approach to recent examples of the study of the spread of economic

ideas in Latin and South American countries, see Cardoso et aL.2014.

2

For a guide to further reading on this topic, see Colancler and Coats 1989 and Cardoso 2003.

3 On this topic, see also Withers 2007.

4 On this topic, see Drayton 2000.

5 Many comparative studies have been developed, giving rise to relevant publications in the field, exploring the paths of convefgence and divergence in different European countries, USA and Japan. Cf. Augello and Guidi 2001 and2012.

6 This is the main concern of a recent research project on"Economics lranslatiotts into onclfrom Europeun Languages" (EE-T project), coordinated by Marco Guidi at the University of Þisa, with the main goal ol assessing the impact of translations

of economic texts on the historical development of economic thought in Europe. Further information on the outcomes of this project is available at: http://eet.pixel-online.org/index.php.

40

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